


A Favorable Fortune

by leporidae



Category: The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Genre: Amusement Parks, Cotton Candy Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fortune Telling, literally...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21765775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leporidae/pseuds/leporidae
Summary: Naveen loves his wife unconditionally. He loves her fiery and unquenchable drive and the genuine passion she pours into her work. He loves the way she greets each customer with a radiant smile. And he loves watching her live her dreams, his chest swelling with pride as Tiana’s face glows with awe at the success of her establishment.What he does not love, however, is watching his wife overwork herself to the point of utter physical and mental exhaustion, collapsing in an armchair at home after countless weekends of needlessly working overtime.
Relationships: Naveen/Tiana (Disney)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 67





	A Favorable Fortune

**Author's Note:**

> Seems like the projects I worked on earlier in the year are suddenly able to be posted all at once, so look forward to some more fic spam the rest of the month.
> 
> Anyway, here's my fic for the Princess and the Frog anniversary zine, [Blue Skies and Sunshine.](https://twitter.com/patfzine) I've adored Tiana ever since this movie came out and I was completely stoked to be able to work on this project. She deserves happiness and cute dates and being appreciated in her life, so that's exactly what I gave her.
> 
> Thanks for having me!

Tiana’s Place is full of joy, a warm and bustling hub of energy and goodwill. Enthusiasts of food and atmosphere alike swarm across the country for a taste of Tiana’s increasingly famous dishes, and she and her equally hard-working staff always go above and beyond to provide.

Naveen loves his wife unconditionally. He loves her fiery and unquenchable drive and the genuine passion she pours into her work. He loves the way she greets each customer with a radiant smile. And he loves watching her live her dreams, his chest swelling with pride as Tiana’s face glows with awe at the success of her establishment.

What he does not love, however, is watching his wife overwork herself to the point of utter physical and mental exhaustion, collapsing in an armchair at home after countless weekends of needlessly working overtime. _It’s healthy to take breaks, _Naveen reminds her one evening, _and a day off could do you a lot of good. _Tiana is still not quite used to his philosophy, but after a bit of needling — and the _irresistible _power of Naveen’s charming smile — she relents, allowing Naveen to plan a date for the two of them. It’s difficult for Tiana to relinquish control of her restaurant to her staff even for a day, but Naveen reminds her gently that she wouldn’t have hired them in the first place if they weren’t competent, and Tiana’s mind is set at ease to enjoy their day alone together.

When the day arrives, the couple finds themselves idly ambling through the food and game stalls of the local amusement park. Tiana had been surprised and a bit disgruntled when Naveen suggested it — _we’re not children anymore, Naveen_ — but had gone along with the idea with minimal resistance, leading Naveen to suspect that she had secretly been charmed by the idea of an amusement park date.

(At least, he hopes so.)

They hold hands as they walk through the crowd of parents with their children and young couples on dates. Tiana’s shoulders are a bit stiff, and Naveen can sense that she feels a bit out of place. Relaxing and allowing herself to embrace her inner child has never come naturally to her, but that’s partially why Naveen had chosen such a setting for their date. After all, what better place to get his wife to loosen up than amidst the energy of youthful wonder and imagination?

“Ah — cotton candy,” Naveen says suddenly upon spotting a vendor surrounded by grabby children with sticky hands outstretched. Though the confection is certainly no beignet, there’s still something a bit magical about a brightly colored, cloudlike swirl that melts in your mouth.

“It’s just sugar, Naveen,” Tiana replies with a bit of a pout, but her gaze locks on to the cotton candy nonetheless, and she watches in a trance. The vendor spins a bundle of the colorful wisps around a stick and hands it to one of the toddlers as their sighing parent resignedly forks over the money.

Naveen tries not to smile. He fails. “You want some, eh?” he says teasingly, nudging Tiana with his shoulder.

“I do not!” Her arms fold across her chest and she glances away from Naveen pointedly. “Of course, if you were to ignore me and buy some while I wasn’t looking… well, you’d be required to give me a taste, of course.”

She’s smiling too now, and Naveen laughs heartily. Of course he finds Tiana’s serious nature charming — he wouldn’t have fallen for her otherwise — but Tiana is so much more than just a constantly working machine. Her sly sense of humor, coupled with the ability to sternly put Naveen in his place when need be, is what makes Tiana so irresistible.

Tiana rarely lets herself indulge in this kind of frivolity, Naveen reflects, watching his wife regard the fluffy mass with both skepticism and a hint of childish curiosity. He pays for a large cotton candy, ignoring the knowing glint in the eyes of the vendor lest he make a scene and embarrass Tiana, and he hands the confection to his date with a dramatic flourish. Tiana squints her eyes at the mass of sugar as though struggling to figure out the best angle of approach; when she realizes Naveen is staring and trying not to laugh at her plight, she indignantly yanks off a handful and shoves it into her mouth, one pink strand dangling comically from her lip like — dare he even think it? — the tongue of a frog.

“The very picture of grace, as usual,” Naveen teases.

Tiana punches him lightly in the shoulder.

They continue perusing the stalls as they eat, Tiana humming quietly with content. Feeling as though he has achieved a small victory, Naveen continues scanning the park for something else that might catch his or Tiana’s fancy. Out of the corner of his eye a tent adorned in red and blue striped fabric snags Naveen’s attention, and he gasps. “A fortune telling booth,” Naveen remarks excitedly, tugging Tiana’s wrist in the direction of the stall. “That sounds like fun, yes?

He’s surprised when her expression darkens and she pointedly looks away from him. “Fortune telling? Oh, uh — I mean, maybe if you’re a kid, but those kinds of fantasy predictions are just nonsense, right? Besides —” Now she smiles up at Naveen, a forced expression at odds with the furrow of her brow. “We don’t need a fortune teller to tell us life is good and we’re happy together, right?”

Naveen huffs, a bit hurt that his idea had been shot down so rapidly. “If it’s just _nonsense,_ then there’s no reason not to go. Unless you’re scared that perhaps the fortune we receive will be… not so favorable?”

It’s childish to goad her like this. Naveen knows it, Tiana _certainly_ knows it — and yet her lips still curl into an indignant pout. “Of course I’m not afraid of some fortune teller at a carnival, Naveen. Don’t be absurd. I’m just saying these kinds of things are a waste of time.”

“We’re on a date,” Naveen reminds her. “We have all the time to waste in the world.”

Tiana rolls her eyes but stubbornly says nothing, folding her arms across her chest as she pointedly glances away from the tent.

Naveen takes one jaunty step towards the entrance, undeterred by his wife’s lack of adventurous spirit. He opens his mouth to introduce himself to the fortune teller — but there’s no one there, just a smudged crystal ball on the table next to a slightly lopsided piece of folded cardboard on with the words _will return shortly_ scrawled on its face. His face falls, and he can sense Tiana’s posture straighten smugly behind him. But he’s too invested to just give up now. “Let’s go in,” Naveen says suddenly, an idea beginning to blossom.

“There’s no one in there,” Tiana reminds him. “I guess we’ll just have to come back later. Or, ideally, not at all.”

Naveen shakes his head, clasping Tiana’s wrist in his hand and gently tugging her forward through the tent’s opening. Despite her muffled grunt of protest he manages to gently sit her down at the fortune teller’s table, and he takes a seat across from her. Between them sits the milky surface of the crystal ball, and Naveen raises both hands over the object, wiggling his fingers and humming comically.

“Naveen, what are you doing?” Tiana says, unable to suppress a soft giggle. “You look ridiculous.”

“I am channeling the energy of the crystal ball, my lady,” Naveen replies with melodramatic solemnity. “It will tell you your future once I have tapped into its great power. Ah, yes — I’m seeing something. The crystal ball is speaking to me! It seems you and your _dashingly handsome_ husband are quite happy together.”

“That crystal ball is oddly specific about your looks,” Tiana teases. “Are you sure it’s not broken?”

Naveen chooses to ignore the jab. “The crystal ball also would like to say you look quite radiant this fine evening.”

“In that case, I guess it’s fine,” Tiana says with a light laugh. “Naveen, this is silly. And we’re going to get in trouble. You know the person who runs this booth is probably going to come back at any minute, right?”

“And what will they do when they do?” Naveen challenges. “_Technically_ I have not touched anything of value.”

“Naveen...” She’s amused by his words, but the smile slowly fades to darkness as her gaze drops to the tablecloth.

At that moment Naveen senses something is wrong, something beyond the fear of getting in trouble with the amusement park staff. “We can go,” Naveen says softly.

She shakes her head slowly. “Sorry, I — I know you’re just trying to cheer me up,” Tiana says, tilting her chin to face him. “But I can’t help but worry about things like this. Magic, fortune tellers, destiny… isn’t that what got us into trouble in the first place? I don’t want anything else to happen to us, Naveen. I’m happy with our life the way it is.”

Naveen sobers at her words, embarrassed by his own childish behavior. Quietly he stands from the table and moves behind Tiana’s chair, draping his arms around her shoulders where she sits. “I should have noticed sooner that you were resisting,” he says. “But there’s no need to worry, Tiana. Our life could never be controlled by some fortune.” He places a delicate kiss on her cheek. “We’ve survived voodoo and, well, being frogs. What can be harder than that?”

Tiana stands and returns the gesture with an equally gentle kiss on his lips. “You’re right, Naveen. Being superstitious doesn’t help anyone. You’re the one who taught me to live in the moment, after all.”

Her features soften as she beams up at him, and Naveen’s heart flutters with the awe of a schoolboy crush. Every time Naveen looks at her he falls in love all over again; oh, it’s such a cliche, and a cheesy one at that, but he can’t help it — Tiana is positively radiant. She’s his world.

“Oi, lovebirds! Can ya read the sign? Get outta my tent!”

The grizzled voice of an equally grizzled man snaps the two out of their reverie, and Naveen turns to see the return of the indignant fortune teller, an awful scowl highlighting the rivets of wrinkles in leathery skin. The man could easily be aged anywhere from 60 to 600, and the thought alone subconsciously curls Naveen’s lips with mirth.

“Ya think this is funny, boy? Get _out_! I’m runnin’ a business here!” The fortune teller grabs a stale bag of carnival popcorn and hurls it at them, and in a shower of buttery snacks and cheeky laughter the two link hands as they flee from the tent.

“You’re right,” Tiana says between breaths once they’ve turned the corner and escaped from the man’s line of sight. She wipes a tear from the corner of her eye with one knuckle. “That was pretty fun.”

Naveen laughs. “I’m no fortune teller, but if we stand here any longer, I’m _predicting _that we may get kicked out of this park.”

Mischief sparkles in her eyes. “Oh yeah? Then I’ll race you to the Ferris wheel. I’m no fortune teller either, but I’m _predicting _I may win.”

She takes off with a grin, Naveen close behind, and the two dash towards the ride, racing through a night lit by youthful nostalgia and the promise of a blissful future.


End file.
